Work / Logo Design, Brand Identity, Web Design
Centro NINA: neonatal training and simulation center
Branding, design and website for the Neonatal Training and Simulation Center of the University Hospital Company of Pisa, an advanced research establishment working with augmented reality and innovative training methods in the neonatal medical field.
Context
Centro NINA is the Neonatal Training and Simulation Center of the University Hospital Company of Pisa (Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria di Pisa, AOUP), an advanced research establishment working with augmented reality technologies and innovative training methods in the neonatal medical field. Behind the Center, the NGO “ANDIAM!” funds and kickstarts new ideas, activities and charitable projects to support NINA’s mission.
Problem
The Center’s first request, from dr. Armando Cuttano, its chief, was a new logo: the existing one — a clip-art of a happy baby — wasn’t up to date with 2018 aesthetics, let alone with the Center’s scientific, forward-looking identity. Beyond the logo, NINA needed a consistent, trustworthy visual system that could hold up across medical, academic and public-facing communications.
Concept
When a family welcomes a newborn, a rose or blue bow is hung on the house’s front door — the traditional, internationally recognized sign that a new life has begun. That bow became the seed of the idea: a single ribbon, inherited from the bow’s shape, flows up and down to spell out N-I-N-A.
From that early sketch, I iterated through dozens of trials, edits and adjustments before arriving at the final logotype. I developed a full-color version and two monochromatic versions (white and black), each available both with the tagline “Centro di Formazione e Simulazione Neonatale” and without it.
Brand Guidelines
The next step was building a consistent, thorough brand manual so every future design or project born within Centro NINA would stay coherent, recognizable and trustworthy. Starting from the logo — its applications, clear space, and variations — I set up a clear how-to guide for using the “NINA” logotype correctly across every support.
Color came next, as the primary vehicle for emotional connection, consistent visual language, and precise communication. A detailed but easy-to-follow guide covers how to build printed layouts and use typography, grids and spacing across the most common paper formats and online contexts. The brand typeface is Work Sans — free, and equally reliable online and in print — paired with Helvetica for body copy and as fallback wherever Work Sans isn’t available (in hospital IT environments, Windows 98 still makes the occasional appearance). The guidelines close with layout examples and guidance on using imagery and photography correctly.
Website
The core of NINA’s communications is its website, showcasing counseling resources and the Center’s innovative training methods — methods inherited from astronaut and pilot training programs. I designed and developed it on Wordpress, building a set of tempaltes and pages which the itnernal team of NINA could easily update and maintain.
